News Analysis India

Tag: Enforcement Directorate

  • Cattle and coal scam: ED conducts searches at TMC leader Vinay Mishra’s Kolkata residence

    By ANI
    KOLKATA: The Enforcement Directorate is conducting search operations at the residence of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Vinay Mishra in Kolkata in connection with cattle and coal scam, sources informed on Friday.

    Earlier on January 27, an arrest warrant has been issued against the TMC leader in a cattle smuggling case by the Asansol Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court.

    The Central Bureau of Investigation had also conducted raids at the Mishra’s residence on December 31 in connection with the same case. A lookout notice was also issued against him.  

  • ED files first chargesheet against PFI; claims it wanted to spread terror after Hathras rape case

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate has filed its first chargesheet against Popular Front of India and its students’ wing on money laundering charges, claiming its members wanted to “incite communal riots and spread terror” in the aftermath of the last year Hathras gang rape case.

    The central agency has been probing the Popular Front of India (PFI), formed in 2006 in Kerala and headquartered in Delhi, since 2018.

    The Enforcement Directorate (ED) recently started investigations into the Islamic organisations’ alleged role in “funding” anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests and the communal riots which took place in Delhi last year.

    The prosecution complaint or chargesheet was filed before a special PMLA court in Lucknow on Wednesday under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

    Those named include PFI member and students’ wing Campus Front of India’s (CFI) national general secretary K A Rauf Sherif, CFI national treasurer Atikur Rahman, Delhi CFI general secretary Masud Ahmed, a journalist “associated with PFI” Siddique Kappan, and Mohammed Alam, who is a member of the CFI and the PFI.

    The special court took cognisance of the ED chargesheet and issued summons to the five accused for appearing before it on March 18 and face trial, official sources said on Thursday.

    Rauf was arrested by the ED from an airport in Kerala in December last year while he was “trying to flee the country”.

    The rest four were arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Police in Mathura last year while they were on their way to Hathras after the alleged gangrape and death of a Dalit woman in that district.

    The ED claimed in a statement issued here that the four were going to “disturb communal harmony, incite violence and spread terror.”

    A fresh PMLA case was filed by the ED against PFI operatives on the basis of a Uttar Pradesh Police FIR.

    The agency said its probe found “that the visit (to Hathras) of these PFI/CFI members was under the instructions of Rauf Sherif and funds for the same were also provided by him.”

    “ED investigation has established that Rauf Sherif entered into a criminal conspiracy with PFI members stationed in Gulf countries to fraudulently transfer money raised/collected abroad by PFI in the guise of payments related to business transactions,” it said.

    “The money was laundered through different layers and eventually reached Rauf Sherif and his associates belonging to PFI and CFI,” the ED said.

    Calling these funds of Rs 1.36 crore as “proceeds of crime, the agency said that it was obtained as a result of criminal activity relating to criminal conspiracy.

    Part of the funds was used by PFI and CFI office bearers, members, activists in India “for their continuous unlawful activities over the time which included, but were not limited to, funding of anti-CAA protests, inciting violence and fomenting trouble which led to Delhi riots in the month of February, 2020, and in respect to the more specific incident investigated in this chargesheet that is the purported visit of PFI/CFI to Hathras with an intent to disturb communal harmony, incite communal riots and spread terror”, the ED said.

    It alleged that Kappan took “active part in the conspiracy (in Hathras) as he had relations with PFI and was involved in use of proceeds of crime and transferred funds into the bank account of Rahman.”

    The car used by these four to travel to Hathras was purchased in cash with “crime money” of Rs 2.25 lakh about 10-15 days prior to their visit, the ED said.

    The agency claimed that a “part of proceeds of crime was projected as untainted money and used for purchase of land and was thus parked to enable future use by PFI/CFI.”

    The ED alleged that funds of “over Rs 100 crore have been deposited in accounts of PFI over the years, and a very large part of the same has been deposited in cash.”

    The source and disbursal of these funds is under investigation, it said.

    “PFI has been continuously indulging in various scheduled offences under the PMLA ever since the Narath (Kannur) arms training case of 2013 investigated by the NIA in which members of PFI/SDPI were convicted of organising a terrorist camp and entering into criminal conspiracy to impart training to the youth in use of explosives and weapons, with an intention to prepare them for terrorist activities,” the ED said in its statement.

    It claimed that the “involvement of PFI and its related organisations in the commission of such scheduled offences and the money transfers and cash deposits have significantly increased since the said incident in 2013”.

    The PFI has been “involved” in anti-CAA protests and several of its members and activists were also arrested by the Delhi Police in the riots case, the ED said.

    It also charged PFI with “collecting huge amounts of funds abroad through PFI members/activists specifically appointed”, saying targets for collection of foreign funds were fixed.

    “These funds have been remitted to India through hawala and under-ground channels and through remittances sent to the accounts of members/activists/office bearers of PFI and related organisations and also to their family members and associates,” it said.

    “Statutory compliance for collection of funds abroad and their remittance to India have not been done by PFI and its related organisations like Rehab India Foundation (which received around Rs 50 lakh as foreign contribution from abroad) as they are not registered under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 1976,” the ED said in its charges against PFI.

    Investigation regarding money laundering activities of PFI and its related organisations, and use of funds in various unlawful activities is in progress and supplementary chargesheets shall be filed, it said.

  • ED summons Raj Kapoor’s grandson and actor Armaan Jain in money laundering case

    By IANS
    MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Armaan Jain, grandson of late Bollywood actor and director Raj Kapoor, in connection with its probe into the Tops Grup case.

    An ED source related to development told IANS, “Jain has been asked to appear before the agency.”

    Jain is the son of Raj Kapoor’s daughter Reema Jain. The source said that the ED team also carried out searches at the residence of Jain on Tuesday, the day Armaan’s uncle, actor Rajiv Kapoor, passed away.

    The ED on Tuesday concluded the searches and allowed Reema and Armaan to attend the funeral.

    The source further revealed that the ED action was based on some chats shared between Armaan and Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik’s son, Vihang.

    The ED had carried out searches at the premises of the Shiv Sena MLA and his son in November last year. The ED had also summoned the MLA to appear before it.

    The case is in connection with a complaint lodged in October last year against the leading security services provider, Tops Grup of Mumbai, alleging that the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) had been siphoned off Rs 175 crore.

  • Enforcement Directorate arrests former Uttar Pradesh Minister Gayatri Prajapati; sent to 7-day custody

    By PTI
    LUCKNOW: A special PMLA court here on Wednesday sent former Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister Gayatri Prajapati to a seven-day Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody after he was arrested by the agency in a money laundering case linked to disproportionate assets, officials said.

    The agency had sought at least 10 days’ custody from the court to “dig out details of funds and 59 immovable properties worth Rs 20.90 crore” allegedly amassed by Prajapati and his family members using purported proceeds of crime earned from illegal mining and other avenues.

    Prajapati was booked last month by the agency in a fresh money laundering case after analysing an Uttar Pradesh Police vigilance FIR filed against him on charges of possessing alleged disproportionate assets, sources said.

    A special court for hearing cases filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) sent him to ED custody for seven days, beginning Thursday, they said.

    Prajapati, who held the mining portfolio in the Samajwadi Party government led by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, is also accused of raping a woman and attempting to molest her minor daughter along with others.

    In this case, he was arrested and sent to jail on March 15, 2017 and has been in judicial custody since then.

    The ED had raided a number of his premises and those of his associates at Lucknow, Kanpur and Amethi in December last year.

    The agency had then said that during the raids it seized Rs 1.42 lakh cash, demonetised currency valuing Rs 11.50 lakh, stamp papers worth Rs 5 lakh, some property-related documents and computers.

    “During the search, more than 100 registries of different properties spread across Lucknow, Kanpur, Amethi, Sitapur and others were unearthed.

    “In addition, allotment letters of four villas in Mumbai, valued at Rs 2.5 crore each, belonging to the family members of the former minister were also seized,” it had said in a statement.

    The agency added its probe found that “after the arrest of Prajapati in March, 2017 in a rape case, his sons have clandestinely sold off some of the properties for personal gains and influencing key witnesses in the trial case against him.”

    It had claimed that “cash deposits in the bank accounts of Prajapati family members and companies were found to be non-commensurate with their income tax filings”.

    “It was revealed that during the period the accused (Prajapati) remained minister in the UP government his company rose exponentially in net worth which he could not explain satisfactorily during his examination,” the ED had said.

    The ED added that his family members “had paid substantial tax on undisclosed income” under the Union government initiated Income Declaration Scheme (IDS) or the black money declaration scheme of 2016.

    It said the probe against benami asset holders of Prajapati “revealed that they were daily wage earners from humble backgrounds and incapable of owning or acquiring the properties found during investigation”.

    “Twenty-three properties ranging between Rs 3-36 lakh in the name of a single benami, and whose residence was also searched, have also been found,” the agency had said.

    The ED is also probing his role in connection with the renewal of sand mining leases in Fatehpur district between 2012-2016.

    It has been alleged in this case that Prajapati, “in collusion with other government officials and private persons, got the mining leases renewed without following proper process of e-tendering and thereby aiding and abetting illegal mining in the district.”

  • Delhi court issues arrest warrant against LeT chief Hafiz Saeed in terror funding case

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Saturday issued an arrest warrant against Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief and 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed in a money laundering case related to terror funding in Jammu and Kashmir.

    Besides issuing the non-bailable warrant (NBW) against Saeed, Special Judge Praveen Singh also issued warrants against three co-accused – Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, separatist Altaf Ahmad Shah alias Funtoosh and businessman from the UAE Naval Kishore Kapoor – who are currently lodged in the Tihar central jail here, seeking their production before the court.

    The court passed the direction while taking cognisance of a chargesheet filed in the matter by the Enforcement Directorate for alleged money laundering. The judge also issued summons to the representatives of Watali’s company M/s Trison Farms and Construction Pvt Ltd, which has also been named as accused in the matter.

    Special Public Prosecutor Nitesh Rana, appearing for the ED, told the court that the accused hatched a criminal conspiracy to carry out subversive and secessionist activities in Jammu and Kashmir.

    The accused established a network of cadres who were funded through Pakistani agencies via hawala dealers and local conduits by raising funds through local donations and funds have also been received from abroad, Rana told the court.

    The ED had filed a case based on an NIA matter against Saeed, Hizbul Mujahideen leader Syed Salahuddin and others for “conspiring to wage war against the government” and fomenting trouble in the Kashmir Valley.

    The separatist leaders have been accused of taking a cut before handing over the money to generate trouble.

    Saeed has also been accused of using the services of Watali for passing on the money to the separatists and some individuals who were actively indulging in stone-pelting in various areas of the Valley, the ED said in the charge sheet.

    In the NIA’s case, besides Saeed, Salahuddin and Watali, the agency had also named hardline pro-Pakistan separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s son-in-law Altaf Shah alias Altaf Fantoosh, Bashir Ahmad Bhat and Javed Ahmad Bhat as accused.

  • ED takes possession of attached assets in PMLA case against Naxal leader

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate has taken possession of assets worth Rs 16 lakh belonging to the wife of a Maoist commander operating in Jharkhand and Bihar, the central probe agency said on Tuesday.

    The action was taken in a money laundering case against Abhijeet Yadav alias Mahavir Yadav, an active member and sub-zonal commander of the banned CPI (Maoist), the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said.

    The adjudicating authority for the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) had recently approved the attachment of assets action and this enabled the ED to take “possession” of such properties, the agency said.

    The attached assets include a land in Jharkhand’s Palamu district and bank deposits of Rs 16.49 lakh in the name of Yadav’s wife Gita Devi.

    The ED had booked Yadav, who is absconding, under the PMLA after studying various state police FIRs registered against him.

    Yadav has been charged for collection of levy, criminal conspiracy, attempt to murder and extortion, the ED said.

    “The top Maoist leader is stated to be threatening and recovering levy forcibly and illegally from various development works going on in Gaya and Aurangabad districts of Bihar and in neighbouring Jharkhand’s Palamu district,” the agency said.

  • ED arrests businessman Anoop Kumar Gupta in VVIP choppers money laundering case

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested businessman Anoop Kumar Gupta in connection with a money laundering probe into the over Rs 3,600-crore VVIP choppers purchase scam case, official sources said on Saturday.

    They said Gupta, the joint managing director of KRBL Limited that sells India Gate basmati rice, has been sent to five-day custody of the central probe agency after he was produced before a special court for cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) here.

    ED sources said Gupta was arrested in the AgustaWestland VVIP choppers deal case and alleged he was not cooperating in the ongoing probe.

    His custodial interrogation was necessary in light of some fresh evidence gathered by the Enforcement Directorate that pertains to “proceeds of crime” or alleged kickbacks of the deal being paid to a firm “controlled” by Gupta, they said.

    Gupta’s lawyers told the court that his arrest was “not justified” and pleaded that he should not be sent to ED custody owing to his medical condition as he suffers from diabetes and other ailments.

    The agency, in its remand application, said two streams were used for channelling about Euro 70 million worth “proceeds of crime” or bribe money to various political persons, bureaucrats and Indian Air Force officials in return of swinging the 12 helicopters deal in favour of AgustaWestland.

    “It is submitted that IDS Information Technology and Engineering Sarl,  Tunisia has received proceeds of crime to the tune of Euro 24. 37 million from AgustaWestland and out of this about Euro 12. 4 million were further transferred to Interstellar Technologies Limited, Mauritius.”

    “The proceeds of crime were further transferred to various companies including Rawasi Al Khaleej General Trading (RAKGT) LLC Dubai which was incorporated in 2007 by KRBL DMCC, Dubai and accused Anoop Gupta was one of the director of this company,” the ED alleged.

    This company (KRBL DMCC) was a subsidiary of KRBL Limited (India), it said.

    The ED said that “in 2009, the entire stake (49 per cent shareholding) of KRBL DMCC held in RAKGT was transferred in the name of one Anurag Potdar but in fact, even after this, RAKGT is under the control of KRBL Limited through Gupta and part of the proceeds of crime received in RAKGT were transferred to KRBL Limited.”

    It claimed that it obtained some documents in December last year pertaining to these purported links and they show that Gupta was “controlling” the financial transactions of this (RAKGT) company.

    Gupta has been named by the ED in an another alleged defence deal scam involving aircraft manufacturer Embraer.

    The businessman was named in a charge sheet by the agency in December in that case that pertains to payment of alleged commission by Embraer to clinch the USD 208-million deal with India, in which it is suspected and alleged that kickbacks were paid.

    The ED slapped money laundering charges to probe allegations of irregularities in the now-cancelled deal to purchase of 12 VVIP choppers from Italy-based Finmeccanica’s British subsidiary AgustaWestland.

    The deal was scrapped by India in 2014.

  • ED attaches Rs 194-crore assets of Manav Bharti Uni group in Himachal Pradesh fake degree case

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth over Rs 194 crore belonging to the Manav Bharti University, its associated concerns and promoters in connection with a money laundering probe against them linked to an alleged fake degree scam that emerged in Himachal Pradesh last year, the agency said on Friday.

    It said the provisionally attached properties are in the form of land, residential house and commercial buildings in Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan that are worth Rs 186.44 crore and six fixed deposits of Rs 7.72 crore.

    The assets are in the name of Solan-based Manav Bharti University (MBU), Madhav University, Manav Bharti Charitable Trust and trust chairman Raj Kumar Rana.

    The university is owned by the Manav Bharti Charitable Trust and was established under the Manav Bharti University (Establishment and Regulation) Act 2009, as per state police.

    The total value of the assets attached by the Enforcement Directorate is Rs 194.17 crore.

    The ED had last year filed a case under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against the accused after studying and taking congnisance of a clutch of FIRs registered by the state police.

    The ED claimed in a statement that Rana “started this scam of issuance of fake degrees in the name of MBU in 2009 from his office in Karnal, Haryana”.

    “Criminal proceeds to the tune of Rs 387 crore were generated from issuance of fake degrees and these were invested by Rana in several properties in his name as well as in the name of his son Mandeep Rana and other family members.”

    “It has come out that these properties were under-valued so that illegal cash proceeds may be adjusted,” the ED alleged. It claimed that Rana got constructed another institution named Madhav University in Mount Abu, Rajasthan’s “through the illegal proceeds generated from issuance of fake degrees.”

    “Proceeds of crime were indirectly utilised by channelling through the bank accounts of Manav Bharti University, Solan and Manav Bharti Charitable Trust for construction of Manav Bharti University (Rajasthan),” it alleged.

    The loans availed for construction of MBU was majorly repaid in the form of cash deposits in banks which were nothing but “illegal” proceeds generated from issuance of fake degrees, the agency said.

    “The illegal proceeds so infused into the bank accounts of Manav Bharti University, Solan and Manav Bharti Charitable Trust were falsely shown as the academic receipts in the books of accounts and hence inflated the same to show them as genuine proceeds,” the ED claimed.

    Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur had told the state  assembly in March last year that police seized 305 detailed mark cards, 15 degrees, computer hard discs, laptops, pen drives, stamps and several other documents during raids at the university in Solan.

    He had said that the police also searched the Madhav University in Mount Abu and sealed its administrative complex after seizing 1,376 blank degrees, 14 stamps, four despatch registers, 50 migration certificates, 319 blank detailed mark cards and several other documents.

    The chief minister informed that one of the three FIRs field against the university in Solan was lodged on March 3 on the complaint of a student from Haryana’s Charkhi Dadri who had alleged that she was given a fake degree.

    Thakur had told the House that it was evident from the documents seized from the university that the accused were playing with students’ future for a long time by issuing fake degrees.

  • ED arrests Yes Bank co-founder Rana Kapoor in fresh money laundering case

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate has arrested Yes Bank co-promoter Rana Kapoor in a fresh money laundering case linked to an alleged Rs 4,300 crore fraud at the PMC Bank in Maharashtra, official sources said on Wednesday.

    Kapoor, 63, was already in judicial custody after he was arrested by the central probe agency in March last year in connection with alleged financial irregularities and purported kick backs paid to him and his family members in lieu of certain loans provided by the Yes Bank to a number of high-profile borrowers.

    In the latest case, sources said, Kapoor was placed under arrest in jail as per provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

    He was later produced before a special PMLA court that sent him to ED custody till January 30 in the second money laundering case filed against him, they said.

    The latest case pertains to the alleged loan fraud in the PMC Bank where the ED raided the premises of the Viva Group promoted by Maharashtra MLA and Bahujan Vikas Agadhi (BVA) party chief Hitendra Thakur in the Vasai-Virar areas of Palghar district and Mumbai last week.

    The central agency filed a criminal case of money laundering in October, 2019 to probe alleged loan fraud in the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank, against Housing Development Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL), its promoters Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan, his son Sarang Wadhawan, the bank’s former chairman Waryam Singh and ex-managing director Joy Thomas.

    It took cognisance of a Mumbai Police economic offences wing FIR that charged them with causing “wrongful loss, prima facie to the tune of Rs 4,355 crore to PMC Bank and corresponding gains to themselves”.

    The ED is probing the role of the Viva Group, Kapoor and the Wadhawans for allegedly “siphoning off” a Rs 200 crore loan sanctioned by the Yes Bank to a company called Mack Star Marketing Pvt Ltd.

    “This loan was siphoned by the Wadhawans by showing it for fictitious purpose,” it had said in a statement issued last week.

    “It was found that Wadhawans illegally and fraudulently transferred two commercial properties of Mack Star in Kaledonia building, Andheri East (Mumbai) valued at Rs 34. 36 crore to Viva Holding, a company of Viva Group,” the ED had claimed.

    For the transfer of these properties, it had said, two separate sale agreements were prepared on June 26, 2017 and the sale value for both the commercial properties was shown as Rs 34.36 crore.

    “In the sale agreements, the purchase amount was shown to be paid by 37 cheques by Viva Holding to Mack Star Marketing Pvt Ltd.

    Investigation has revealed that these cheques were never encashed in the account of Mack Star and Viva Holding never made payments for the purchase of the said property to Mack Star,” the ED alleged.

    It said the Wadhawans had “illegally transferred” these properties to Viva Group in violation of the article of association of Mack Star.

    “Viva Holding never showed these properties in its balance sheets,” it had said.

  • Bank fraud: ED files money laundering case against UP BSP MLA, others

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The ED has filed a money laundering case against BSP MLA from Uttar Pradesh Vinay Shankar Tiwari and some others to probe an alleged fraud of over Rs 750 crore against a consortium of banks led by the Bank of India (BoI), official sources said on Wednesday.

    The central probe agency’s Lucknow zonal office has filed an ECIR or the enforcement case information report under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act against the MLA from Chillupar (Gorakhpur) and Gangotri Enterprises, a company based in the Uttar Pradesh capital.

    Tiwari, 54, is the son of former minister and strongman from Gorakhpur Hari Shankar Tiwari.

    The Enforcement Directorate (ED) studied a CBI FIR of October last year filed against Tiwari, his wife Rita, Gangotri Enterprises among others to register its ECIR, the ED equivalent of a police FIR, the sources said.

    The CBI had also carried out raids in Lucknow and Noida after filing this complaint. The alleged fraud perpetrated against the BoI-led consortium of banks involves Rs 754.25 crore.

    According to official sources, the ED’s probe scanner is on at least four instances that led to the alleged “diversion and misappropriation” of the bank funds.

    The company (Gangotri Enterprises) has invested in the group company without major capital contribution from the promotors’ side.

    It created “double charges” in fixed assets, which means that the company mortgaged the same property for availing multiple loans, the ED complaint said.

    It alleged that the accused company mortgaged agricultural land to avail loans but did not change it to non-agricultural land, one of the conditions for availing the loans, despite repeated reminders from the bank.

    “The company has not routed receipts through TRA (trust and retention account) which is also one of the conditions to avail the loan facilities,” it alleged.

    The sources said the agency is now identifying movable and immovable properties of the accused for possible attachment under the PMLA once the primary probe finds money laundering and linked financial irregularities.

    The role of the MLA, his family members, associates and bank officials will also be probed and they are expected to be examined in the coming days, they said.